Hello everyone I was about to book a vacation for my wife , and children to Big Bear Lake in the San Bernardino mts in CA when I stumbled on another place that almost looks like a "mini" lake Tahoe called Lake Arrowhead which I believe is about an hour from Big Bear. Was wondering if anyone could give me feedback on the two especially Lake Arrowhead since I have never been there?? I realize the ski resort is about 30 minutes from Lake Arrowhead , and Big Bear ski resort is right in town , but how about the other activities in the two towns?? Which village is better to walk around at ..... Big Bear village or Arrowhead village?? I totally appreciate any threads to help me make a decision. Thanks

Sorry man, I didn't want to reply because I haven't been to arrowhead in a while and since I moved away I thought a local could provide better insight.

But, I don't really remember Arrowhead very well, it's been a while. But Big Bear is full of meth heads. At least the people who live there always seemed pretty weird. Big bear is a little more commercial as far as the town goes. It's a lot of bigger than arrowhead but lake arrowheads town has more of a...'town' feeling to it, more villagey-ish. The drive to the resorts from arrowhead seems really long, I know it looks close, but it ends up taking like an hour...

I also believe there are A LOT better places you could visit. BB/LA are both very underwhelming...

lake arrowhead is completely dead in the winter. a mini lake tahoe? not even, perhaps a mini big bear lake. big bear will have a lot more of a town life, in lake arrowhead i can't say there is one at all. hwith that being said, it is a very nice lake and area. in the summer there's always a good amount of boats in the water with wakeboarding and such.

Big Bear is where I am every weekend in winter - we rent a condo up there for the season. I would suggest Big Bear over Lake Arrowhead. Big Bear is closer to either Big Bear Resort or Snow Summit. They have two movie theaters and lots of restaurants. A few tubing areas also for the kids. There is a K-Mart and two grocery stores if needed.

Only been to Lake Arrowhead one time during the summer, but if you were going for boarding and a vacation I'd say Big Bear. Driving between the two can be more difficult than if you just stay in Big Bear. Pine Knot Ave. in Big Bear is a big hang out for the tourists. People walking around all the area stores. That is also where the 2 movie theaters are located. The last 2 winters they had an ice rink on one of the corners of Pine Knot Ave that you could rents skates and skate on. Again, there are several restaurants along there also. Around town there is a Taco Bell, Kentucky Fried Chicken, Carl's, McDonald's, and Subway is over by K Mart if you want fast food.

Our condo is at the bottom of the slopes of Snow Summit and when we pull in Friday afternoon we park the car and walk everywhere the whole weekend until we leave Sunday afternoon (after snowboarding that is) lol! Rinse and repeat the following weekend......